News, nature, and community throughout the Emerald Triangle

Fall Victim Rescued From North of Needle Rock

This evening, an individual fell off a cliff in the Jones Beach area north of Needle Rock near Shelter Cove receiving a possible hip fracture and spinal injuries. The medivac helicopter wasn’t able to get to the accident scene because of thick fog.

However, Southern Humboldt Technical Rescue Service, Whale Gulch Fire and Garberville Ambulance crews (and possibly other agencies) responded. The crews were able to extricate the victim from the beach and the individual is being transported in rugged terrain to a waiting ambulance.

We’ll have more information available when resources are back into cell phone range.

According to Diana Totten a spokesperson for the Southern Humboldt Technical Rescue team, the victim of the incident is a young male adult. The man fell about 25 feet and received moderate to major injuries. “It took a couple of hours to do the rescue,” Totten said. “The fog and the terrain made the rescue difficult.” However, the patient reached the ambulance safely and is on to the hospital for treatment.

Totten gave kudos to the ambulance crew which had to “walk into the wilderness to treat the patient” and to Whale Gulch Fire and the incident commander who “did a good job of accessing the patient and getting the resources that were needed.”

Totten said that the lack of clear radio transmission made the rescue harder. “We’re going to have to try and work on this,” she said.

Since this is Fourth of July weekend and lots of people are escaping the heat by heading to the coast, Totten says that there are a lot of people unfamiliar with the rugged terrain in the area. She asks everyone to be extra careful and vigilant no matter where they are.

5 comments

Thank you ALL so much for rescuing my son! He’s grown up in the woods and was taught better skills than his choice led him too. He’s only 18 and now has plenty of time to think about the value of his life and not to take anything for granted. He’s busted up good and will have to walk on a walker for months once he can get around. I’m so grateful he’s alive and I pray this will be the last of such rookie moves.

Thanks again so much to the ambulance crew and the Whale Gulch Fire Department.